all things food
Alfajores (Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies)
Two shortbread cookies sandwich a creamy dulce de leche center in these traditional South American alfajores cookies.
READ: Alfajores (Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies)
Two shortbread cookies sandwich a creamy dulce de leche center in these traditional South American alfajores cookies.
This Chicken Sheet Pan Quesadilla recipe is easy to make, full of great flavor, and the perfect fun party food to feed a crowd! It’s Super Bowl week…and our hometown team is playing this year! (Go Chiefs!!) ♡ Barclay and I will be rooting for them in our dreams, since kickoff takes place in the […]
This Chicken Sheet Pan Quesadilla recipe is easy to make, full of great flavor, and the perfect fun party food to feed a crowd!
It’s Super Bowl week…and our hometown team is playing this year! (Go Chiefs!!) ♡
Barclay and I will be rooting for them in our dreams, since kickoff takes place in the middle of the night over here in Barcelona. But I wanted to leave you with some fun Super Bowl recipes in advance this week that you can cook up some good eats for the big game, including today’s fun party-size recipe for chicken sheet pan quesadillas!
Or technically, I should probably say sheet pan quesadilla (singular), because this fun method makes one huge party-sized quesadilla!
I’ve loaded this quesadilla up with a hearty-yet-simple filling of creamy chicken, bacon, cheese, veggies, beans and some zesty seasonings. But the options to customize your sheet pan quesadilla here are pretty limitless, so feel free to swap in whatever ingredients you happen to love best. (See options below to make this recipe gluten-free and/or vegetarian if you’d prefer.) I would definitely recommend whipping up a batch of my favorite guacamole to serve with it, as well as some pico de gallo, salsa, sour cream, or ranch sauce for dipping. And while you can easily prep the components of this quesadilla in advance, I also highly recommend baking it just before serving so that you can slice it up nice and hot while the cheese is still melty.
I’ve written this recipe to fit a large standard-sized half sheet pan, which yields a dozen good-sized servings and makes it perfect for a party, but you can easily scale it a bit smaller if you’re serving a smaller group this year. However you make it, this is a really fun sheet pan meal and the perfect game day food for rooting on your favorite team. Let’s make some sheet pan quesadillas!
This traditional Sopa Azteca (Tortilla Soup) recipe is made with a simple, richly-seasoned, tomato-chile broth that is ladled hot over crispy tortilla strips and loaded up with your choice of toppings. Feel free to add chicken and/or cheese if you’d like! This winter, I’ve been on a mission to learn how to make authentic sopa […]
This traditional Sopa Azteca (Tortilla Soup) recipe is made with a simple, richly-seasoned, tomato-chile broth that is ladled hot over crispy tortilla strips and loaded up with your choice of toppings. Feel free to add chicken and/or cheese if you’d like!
This winter, I’ve been on a mission to learn how to make authentic sopa azteca that tastes more like the tortilla soups I fell in love with in Mexico (and notably less like the modernized Tex-Mex versions I’ve always known in the States). And now that I’ve figured it out, we can’t stop making this one in our house. ♡
During our recent trips to Mexico, I became a bit obsessed with ordering sopa azteca (also called sopa de tortilla or sopa de tortilla azteca) anytime I spied it on menus. Usually served as an appetizer, this tortilla soup was consistently made with the same main ingredients — crispy corn tortilla strips, a piping-hot garlicky tomato-chile caldo (broth), fresh avocado, and a combination of sour cream, fresh cilantro, lime wedges and/or fried chile strips sprinkled on top. Some restaurants also included chicken or soft diced cheese in the soup, while others kept it vegetarian (or vegan). Some kept their soup fairly mild, while others (whew!) had us sweating. Some served the soup pre-assembled, while others served us bowls full of tortilla strips with a side of DIY toppings and then ladled in the steaming hot caldo table-side. But every single bowl of sopa azteca we tried was downright delicious.
The magic of this soup, of course, is all in that delicious, rich, soul-warming caldo. Turns out, it’s surprisingly easy to make in just 20-ish minutes with a blend of tomatoes, onion, garlic, oregano, chicken or veggie stock and dried pasilla (or ancho) chiles. And yes — I have to insist — the dried chiles are essential here! If you are new to working with dried Mexican chiles, though, please don’t be intimidated. They are super-easy to use and are hands-down the key ingredient to giving the broth the most amazing smoky, earthy, delicious flavor. Feel free to also fry up a few of the chile strips to sprinkle them on top of the soup, which only takes an extra minute or two of extra prep time and is really fun too!
Anyway, after so many years of enjoying various Tex-Mex and modernized versions of tortilla soup in the States, I’ve really appreciated finally learning about the authentic prehispanic Mexican sopa azteca — “la reina de sopas” (queen of soups), as one Mexico City restaurant we loved called it — that inspired them all. If you ask me, nothing beats the original when it comes to this classic. So if you happen to be a fellow tortilla soup super-fan, it’s time to give authentic sopa azteca a try!
This tofu tacos recipe is what easy dinners are made of! The filling is spiced to perfection, making it a vegan meal everyone will love. Here’s a fast and easy dinner that went over like a charm over here: Tofu Tacos! While it’s not typically served in a tortilla, tofu is ideal for tacos. Its neutral flavor takes on whatever flavors you season it with: and these tofu crumbles are quite the kitchen trick. Add cumin, garlic powder, chili powder and smoked paprika, and the filling is bursting with flavor! You can whip up these easy tacos in just 20 minutes, making them ideal for weeknight meals. Wait: you can make a block of rubbery white tofu into the best vegan tacos filling? Here’s how. First off: is tofu healthy? There’s a lot of misinformation related to the health benefits of this soy product, so we get this question a lot. Here’s the thing: Tofu in moderation is part of a healthy diet (several times per week). Per to the Harvard School of Nutrition, soy is a nutrient-dense source of protein that can safely be consumed several times a week. It’s likely to provide health benefits, especially when you eat it as an […]
This tofu tacos recipe is what easy dinners are made of! The filling is spiced to perfection, making it a vegan meal everyone will love.
Here’s a fast and easy dinner that went over like a charm over here: Tofu Tacos! While it’s not typically served in a tortilla, tofu is ideal for tacos. Its neutral flavor takes on whatever flavors you season it with: and these tofu crumbles are quite the kitchen trick. Add cumin, garlic powder, chili powder and smoked paprika, and the filling is bursting with flavor! You can whip up these easy tacos in just 20 minutes, making them ideal for weeknight meals. Wait: you can make a block of rubbery white tofu into the best vegan tacos filling? Here’s how.
There’s a lot of misinformation related to the health benefits of this soy product, so we get this question a lot. Here’s the thing: Tofu in moderation is part of a healthy diet (several times per week). Per to the Harvard School of Nutrition, soy is a nutrient-dense source of protein that can safely be consumed several times a week. It’s likely to provide health benefits, especially when you eat it as an alternative to red meat and processed meat. For more, go to Straight Talk About Soy and Is Tofu Good for You?
Here at A Couple Cooks, for years we avoided tofu though we ate mostly vegetarian and vegan recipes. The past few years we’ve come around to it as a delicious and easy to prepare vegan protein! We just didn’t know the best ways to prepare it. Speaking of, here’s one of our new favorites…
Yes, it’s easier than you think to make a flavorless block of pressed soy into a delicious tofu tacos filling! The secret: tofu crumbles. You’ll break the tofu into smaller irregular shaped pieces, then mix it with delicious seasonings. Here’s what to do:
To keep these as a quick and easy dinner recipe, we went for the simplest toppings imaginable. Of course, you can customize them as you’d like! Here’s what we do when we’re in a rush:
The toppings listed above are the quickest and easiest: and usually they’re all we need! But if you want to get fancier, we’ve got lots of great options. Here are some fun tacos fillings ideas:
Here’s our biggest tip for tofu tacos, or tacos of any kind: warm your tortillas! There’s nothing worse than a taco with a tough, cold tortilla. Here’s how to warm tortillas like a pro:
There are so many great recipe to make with tofu! As I mentioned above, we used to avoid tofu but now we like including it as part of a healthy vegetarian and vegan diet! Now that we know the best ways to prepare it, we always look forward to including it in weekly meals. How about you: are you a tofu convert too? Have you always loved this tasty soy protein?
Here are a few more great tofu recipes we’d recommend in addition to these tofu tacos:
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.
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(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes 
Yield: 8 tacos This tofu tacos recipe is what easy dinners are made of! The filling is spiced to perfection, making it a vegan meal everyone will love.
For the tofu
For the tacos
Category: Main Dish
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: Mexican inspiredKeywords: Tofu tacos
A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes
This fun mushroom “carnitas” recipe is easy make with marinated shredded mushrooms that are roasted to crispy, juicy, delicious perfection! Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and perfect for tacos, burritos, quesadillas and more. I’ve got a fun new vegetarian dinner recipe today for you guys to try… …mushroom “carnitas!” ♡ Yep, this classic Mexican dish has gone […]
This fun mushroom “carnitas” recipe is easy make with marinated shredded mushrooms that are roasted to crispy, juicy, delicious perfection! Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and perfect for tacos, burritos, quesadillas and more.
I’ve got a fun new vegetarian dinner recipe today for you guys to try…
…mushroom “carnitas!” ♡
Yep, this classic Mexican dish has gone vegetarian (also naturally vegan and gluten-free!) thanks to a simple swap of shredded mushrooms in place of the meat. And while these plant-based “carnitas” can really be made with just about any type of mushrooms, we love making them in our house with king oyster mushrooms because they can be shredded to take on a shockingly similar texture and meaty flavor of traditional pork carnitas. My vegetarian husband totally did a double take the first time I served him a plate and couldn’t believe they weren’t made of meat!
Simply shred the mushrooms, toss them with your favorite marinade, and roast them up in the oven to crispy, juicy, delicious perfection. Then these mushroom “carnitas” will be ready to serve in tacos, burritos, quesadillas, burrito bowls, chilaquiles, enchiladas, salads, or whatever sounds good!
They’re seriously so fun to make, and I promise that even the meat-eaters in your life won’t miss the pork with this dish. Let’s make some!
This black bean tacos recipe takes just 15 minutes! It’s a fast and easy dinner idea that’s easy to customize and pleases everyone. On the lookout for those elusive recipes that are healthy, easy and delicious? Meet our new favorite: these easy Black Bean Tacos! We created this recipe to be totally customizable based on your diet and available time. It stars our 5 minute black beans, a quick taco filling idea that’s bursting with flavor in just a few minutes. Top it with all the best taco toppings: corn, avocado, pickled onions: and a sprinkling of feta cheese. If you have time, we love it with cilantro lime sauce: but taco sauce and sour cream does the trick too! There’s really something for everyone with this one. More seriuously easy tacos? Try our Refried Bean Tacos or Egg Tacos! How to make the easiest black bean tacos These black bean tacos are beyond easy: and they work with whatever toppings you’d like! The secret behind them is the easy black bean filling. Here’s what to know about how to make the fastest black bean tacos there are: Mince garlic, then cook 30 seconds in butter and olive oil. The […]
This black bean tacos recipe takes just 15 minutes! It’s a fast and easy dinner idea that’s easy to customize and pleases everyone.
On the lookout for those elusive recipes that are healthy, easy and delicious? Meet our new favorite: these easy Black Bean Tacos! We created this recipe to be totally customizable based on your diet and available time. It stars our 5 minute black beans, a quick taco filling idea that’s bursting with flavor in just a few minutes. Top it with all the best taco toppings: corn, avocado, pickled onions: and a sprinkling of feta cheese. If you have time, we love it with cilantro lime sauce: but taco sauce and sour cream does the trick too! There’s really something for everyone with this one.
More seriuously easy tacos? Try our Refried Bean Tacos or Egg Tacos!
These black bean tacos are beyond easy: and they work with whatever toppings you’d like! The secret behind them is the easy black bean filling. Here’s what to know about how to make the fastest black bean tacos there are:
Once you’ve got the black bean filling, it’s time for toppings! We’ve listed our favorite toppings in the recipe below. You can customize based on your preferences and diet. But it is important to have a few elements. Here’s what to note about topping your black bean toppings:
There are lots of other sauce options for these tacos! Here are a few more great options listed in terms of timing and diet preferences:
Here’s our biggest tip for black bean tacos: warm your tortillas! There’s nothing worse than a taco with a tough, cold tortilla. Here’s how to warm tortillas like a pro:
It’s easy to adapt these black bean tacos for various diets! Here’s what to do:
What makes these black bean tacos such a great healthy dinner idea? They star black beans! Black beans are:
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free.
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(8 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Total Time: 15 minutes Yield: 8 tacos (4 servings) This black bean tacos recipe takes just 15 minutes! It’s a fast and easy dinner idea that’s easy to customize and pleases everyone.
For the black beans*
For the tacos
*Variation: Add Roasted sweet potatoes to make Sweet potato black bean tacos.
**If you have 5 minutes, it’s well worth it to make the Cilantro Lime Sauce! Or make the vegan Creamy Cilantro Sauce in advance.
Category: Main DishMethod: StovetopCuisine: Mexican inspiredKeywords: Black bean tacos
Love beans? Here are some of our top black bean recipes:
A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes
This is truly the best chicken tortilla soup! This classic Mexican soup is made a tomato based soup topped with crispy fried tortillas soup, avocado, Jack cheese, cilantro, and lime. Continue reading “Chicken Tortilla Soup” »
Continue reading "Chicken Tortilla Soup" »
This intensely delicious bean dip recipe takes literally 5 minutes. You won’t believe how easy it is to make this party favorite! This recipe happened by accident. That’s where many great recipes come from, right? Happy accidents. From this most recent accident came our famous 5-Minute Bean Dip recipe! It’s not superlative when I say it might be the very easiest recipe we’ve ever created. Beans, salsa, and cheese come together into the creamiest, gooiest piping hot mess. Dunk in crunchy chips and it tastes remarkably like the queso from your favorite Mexican joint. With just 3 ingredients, the flavor is more irresistibly complex than you’d imagine. But to really understand the magic here: you’ve got to taste it. Ingredients in the fastest, easiest bean dip recipe Alex whipped this up on a whim one night to go with some tacos, and it was so unexpectedly delicious that we decided it needed to go public. We’ve made this so many times, we’ve lost count. The greatness is in its simplicity, because all you need is 3 ingredients (plus salt): Canned borlotti or pinto beans Salsa Shredded Mexican blend or cheddar cheese Pinto beans vs borlotti beans Oddly enough, we first […]
This intensely delicious bean dip recipe takes literally 5 minutes. You won’t believe how easy it is to make this party favorite!
This recipe happened by accident. That’s where many great recipes come from, right? Happy accidents. From this most recent accident came our famous 5-Minute Bean Dip recipe! It’s not superlative when I say it might be the very easiest recipe we’ve ever created. Beans, salsa, and cheese come together into the creamiest, gooiest piping hot mess. Dunk in crunchy chips and it tastes remarkably like the queso from your favorite Mexican joint. With just 3 ingredients, the flavor is more irresistibly complex than you’d imagine. But to really understand the magic here: you’ve got to taste it.
Alex whipped this up on a whim one night to go with some tacos, and it was so unexpectedly delicious that we decided it needed to go public. We’ve made this so many times, we’ve lost count. The greatness is in its simplicity, because all you need is 3 ingredients (plus salt):
Oddly enough, we first made this bean dip recipe with a unique variety of beans: borlotti beans! Alex found them on a whim at our local grocery and we accidentally loved them. This bean dip tastes amazing with the creamy, meaty texture of borlotti beans, but they can be hard to find. Pinto beans work just as well as a substitute! Here’s some info about both:
This dip couldn’t be easier or faster. (Have we emphasized that enough yet?) In fact, you don’t even need to drain or rinse those beans. Yep, just use them right from the can! Here’s the brief overview of how this bean dip recipe comes together:
Usually we’re all about cooking dried beans. But in this bean dip recipe, we do not recommend substituting cooked dry beans. Why? Canning beans makes their membranes very tender, almost mushy. Canned beans also have thickened can liquid, which is impossible to obtain at home when you cook from dry. You need both of these things in order for this bean dip to come together so quickly with just the right texture. Save those beans for one of these bean recipes!
Typically we serve this bean dip without a garnish. But if you want to take it over the top for parties, add a garnish! Throw a few chopped veggies in the center of the dip, and the color contrast looks lovely. Here are a few ideas for the garnish:
Wait, you don’t want a gooey cheesy bean dip? We’ve got an option for you too. This Easy Refried Bean Dip is vegan and full of flavor! You’ll use storebought canned refried beans instead of whole beans, and mix it with green chiles and seasonings. It’s terrifically delicious and a smidge healthier than this bean dip recipe, if you’re looking for something lighter.
That’s it! You’ve got your bean dip faster than the time it takes you to read this article. Lastly, here are a few things we’d pair with bean dip. You can likely think of these yourself, but we wanted to point to a few specific recipes:
Vegetarian and gluten free. For vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free, see the substitutes above.
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(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Prep Time: 0 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Total Time: 5 minutes Yield: 8 servings This intensely delicious bean dip recipe takes literally 5 minutes. You won’t believe how easy it is to make this party favorite!
Category: AppetizerMethod: StovetopCuisine: Mexican inspiredKeywords: Bean dip, bean dip recipe
We love to dip, over here! Here are some of our top favorite dip recipes if you’re looking for more inspiration:
A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes
These stuffed peppers aren’t the kind your mom made. They’re meatless and loaded with fresh flavor. They’re cheesy as shown, yes, but the cheese is actually non-essential.…
The post Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers appeared first on Cookie and Kate.
These stuffed peppers aren’t the kind your mom made. They’re meatless and loaded with fresh flavor. They’re cheesy as shown, yes, but the cheese is actually non-essential. You can easily make these peppers dairy free or vegan.
I was inspired to incorporate some of my favorite Mexican ingredients, including pinto beans, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, lime, chili powder and cumin. The filling is so tasty, I could eat it as a side dish! These peppers are somewhat time consuming, but each element is simple to make.
The trick to making great stuffed peppers is to slice the peppers in half from the stem end down through the base. Then, pre-roast the halves until they’re tender and a bit caramelized at the sliced edges. This way, their flavor is condensed and their texture is just right—not too crisp, but not falling apart.
Please do yourself a favor and cook extra brown rice while you’re at it. Then, you’ll be one step closer to dinner tomorrow night—say, Extra Veggie Fried Rice or any of these rice-based dishes. High five!
The post Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers appeared first on Cookie and Kate.
This Poblano White Chicken Chili recipe comes together quickly in less than 30 minutes and is so flavorful and comforting. As soon as the weather begins to cool off each fall, I have a bit of an obsession for making sure that we always have some sort of chili all meal-prepped, stocked in the freezer, […]
This Poblano White Chicken Chili recipe comes together quickly in less than 30 minutes and is so flavorful and comforting.
As soon as the weather begins to cool off each fall, I have a bit of an obsession for making sure that we always have some sort of chili all meal-prepped, stocked in the freezer, and ready to reheat for a quick lunch or dinner whenever those last-minute soup cravings arise. We usually meal-prep some sort of plant-based chili to keep on hand, so that my vegetarian husband can enjoy it too. But this fall, while pregnancy has had me craving so much chicken (lol, if you couldn’t tell by this month’s list of recipes), this poblano white chicken chili has been totally hitting the spot. ♡
It’s loaded up with tons of beans and chicken for protein, plus lots of zesty poblano peppers to add some extra flavor and a touch of heat. And when piled high with all of my favorite toppings (you know me and chili, the more the merrier!), this white chicken chili is so cozy and flavorful and hits the spot every single time.
I’m also extra-partial to this recipe because it comes together very quickly in less than 30 minutes. And instead of adding any extra flours or cornstarch as a thickener, I just puréed a can of beans in the blender and added it to the soup, which adds some nice extra protein and works like a charm. (And also keeps this chili gluten-free!) Oh, and if you can’t find poblano peppers at your grocery store, I’ve included an option below to just use canned diced green chiles instead.
Let’s make some white chicken chili!
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